Smile Because We Screw Destiny
by RayneSummer
Summary: After 6.15, Sam finds himself missing Ruby... and demon blood. Spoilers for up to season six, reviews help me improve.


The window was broken but they couldn't fix it before Bobby came back; they simply found a large tarp and put it over the entire thing to keep the relentless wind and rain out. Then Dean sat down exactly where he had been before, muttering something about stupid names and acting. Sam smiled a little sadly and sighed, wondering out of the room and into the hallway as he heard the door slam, meaning Bobby was back.

The elder hunter paused in the hallway and gave Sam a calculating look. "What's wrong, boy? You're pining for somethin'," he said curiously. Sam just shrugged.

"We, uh... your window's broken," he replied lamely. Bobby frowned and glanced in the other room, then back at Sam.

"How'd you manage that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Sam's lips twitched into a small smile at the man's unsurprised tone and shrugged again.

"It's a long story," he sighed. Bobby rolled his eyes and motioned Sam back into the living room, setting the paper bag of shopping down on the sofa and eyeing the tarp that covered the window.

"Either of you idjits wanna give me an insight to what happened here?" He gave both Winchesters a look as if they were teenagers again and had been arguing. Sam and Dean exchanged glances _exactly _as if they were teenagers again and were trying to think up an excuse. Bobby couldn't help smiling at the similarity.

Dean sighed and started to explain about Balthazar and the 'stupid' alternate reality they'd been plunged into. Sam left him to it and meandered back out into the hallway. He felt strange, maybe kind of empty, and wondered if he was coming down with something.

He headed to the bathroom and wet a flannel, wiping it across his face. He felt too hot and knew he was shaking; trying to calculate his symptoms, he realised he could only come up with one thing. And that wasn't really possible.

How the hell could he be detoxing? He hadn't had any blood in ages, and Ruby had been dead for even longer. Wait; Ruby... Gen. The actor who played Ruby in the alternate place they had gone to. And, yeah, they had been in bed together, but she wasn't a demon – he had been sure of that. However, now he thought of it, she could have acted as a trigger for this.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, wiping the cloth across his face again, feeling the fever growing there. _Crap_. He really did seem to be hungry for demon blood, and he hated it. Shaking, he put the flannel down and decided to try to sleep off the addiction, heading out of the bathroom and to his and Dean's room across the hall.

His orientation was shot, and he stumbled into the doorframe, stubbing his toe and swearing under his breath. He limped to his bed, falling onto it, laying on his stomach and burying his head into the pillow, trying to rid himself of the pounding headache in his mind. Soon, he thankfully drifted off... into nightmares.

Meanwhile, Dean finished explaining to Bobby, who took it all in even if he didn't believe it. Then again, his boys did get up to some insane events. Then he looked around, realising the younger Winchester wasn't in the room anymore. He glanced at Dean.

"Where's your brother?" he asked in concern. He had noticed Sam acting strange and was worried about the boy. Dean looked around too, seemingly surprised that his brother wasn't there.

"I don't know..." He trailed off with a frown, wondering where Sam could have gone. He stood up. "Kid's probably exhausted from our adventure. I'll go find him," Dean offered, trying to hide the fact that he really was worried about what could of happened to him.

Bobby nodded, seeing Dean needed to find Sam, and went into the kitchen to get a drink while the boy went out of the room, looking around.

"Sam?" Dean said cautiously, walking up the stairs. He peeked into the bathroom, and coming up little brother-less, looked into their room.

Sam was sprawled on his bed, face down and buried in his pillow. Dean smiled slightly at the picture and turned to go when he heard Sam shift restlessly and realised that it was really quite hot in the room.

He crossed it to open the window and let in some air, then turned to Sam on his bed and frowned. He had turned his head to the side, and now Dean could see that his face was flushed and his hair was saturated with sweat.

Dean went to Sam's bed and crouched down next to it, reaching a hand out to put on his forehead. Frowning at the hot temperature, Dean put the back of his hand on Sam's sweaty cheek as the kid shifted again, muttering soundlessly, clearly wracked with fever.

Thoughtfully, he ran his hand through his little brother's hair as he worked out first, what had caused this, and second, how to fix it. He hadn't noticed that Sam was sick, meaning this had just come on, and fast.

Dean stood up and looked down at the kid, deciding whether to wake him up or not, when Sam turned his head again and opened his eyes a little, squinting up at his brother.

"Dean," he croaked, and looked around the room, wincing in the light. Dean crouched down again beside him.

"Hey, Sammy," he said gently. "You didn't tell me you were sick." Sam took a moment to register his surroundings, and what Dean was saying, before clearing his throat and focusing.

"It just came on," he said wearily, closing his eyes with a sigh. Dean brushed his hair out of his eyes and waited until he opened them again.

"Do you know why?" Dean asked, knowing Sam needed to rest, but wanting to find out why he was suddenly so ill. To his surprise, Sam nodded.

"I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure..." He swallowed, not wanting to admit it but having to tell his brother. "It feels like either addiction or detox," he sighed.

Dean stared at him. "But... you haven't had any in ages. And you haven't been into it for ages either." He paused and suddenly thought of something – "do you think... when you were soulless...?"

Thankfully, Sam quickly shook his head. "No. I think Ruby triggered it, but I haven't had any," he said, groaning quietly in pain while Dean watched him in concern.

"Ruby? She's been dead for even longer, man, there's no way-" And then Dean realised. "The actor who plays Ruby. Did you...?"

Sam grimanced and nodded. Dean stared at his incredulously and felt a smirk creep on his face despite Sam's condition. "You mean you-"

"_Yes_," Sam moaned, and seeing Dean's expression, added, "I know. But she was meant to be my wife," he offered lamely. Dean chuckled.

"Dude. Seriously?" He couldn't keep the smile out of his voice.

"Shut up," Sam muttered, turning away and screwing up his eyes in pain. Dean immediately dropped the joking attitude and focused on getting his brother better.

"Hopefully this'll pass, right?" He asked worriedly. Sam nodded.

"I think it'll only last about a few hours. Usually, if I don't have any, the addiction goes away quite quickly," he explained, and Dean nodded in relief.

"Okay. I guess you just wanna sleep it off then?" Sam nodded again. "Right. Do you need any pills or anything? You've got a pretty high fever, Sammy," he said gently.

Sam shrugged."Just wanna sleep, Dean," he muttered, turning over back onto his stomach and once again burying his face in the pillow, effectively ending Dean's fussing.

The big brother smiled at Sam's childish attitude and patted his shoulder before standing. He looked at and saw Bobby standing in the doorway, who had been watching the boys for the past few minutes, having gone looking for Dean when he didn't come back with Sam.

Dean sighed and glanced at his little brother. "Ruby's messing things up again, and she's been dead for ages," he muttered, and looked back at Bobby. "What I wouldn't give to kill her over again," he mused, and took one last check on Sam before following Bobby out of the room.

The two hunters went downstairs and sat at the table. Bobby got them both a beer and they sat for a moment in silence, Dean staring into space and thinking and Bobby watching the young hunter.

"He's gonna be okay, you know," he said quietly. "He's still got you." Dean glanced at him and, to Bobby's surprise, smiled.

"Yeah." He glanced out the window, smiling his 'screw destiny' smile. "I know."


End file.
